Yellowjackets Showrunner Says She’s Gotten Death Threats After Deadly, Destructive Season 2 Finale

(In case it isn’t clear yet, considering this a SPOILER WARNING for the events of the Season 2 finale of “Yellowjackets,” because it’s not going to be easy to talk about the apparent social media fallout of it without talking about what happened.)

Almost immediately after the episode dropped for streaming viewers, series co-creator Ashley Lyle jumped on her Twitter feed with words of praise and gratitude for the show’s writers, cast and crew, and concern over what she wondered was a “rite of passage” for showrunners.

“So, I know some people really enjoyed the ‘Yellowjackets’ finale,” she wrote. “And some people… did not (is getting death threats a showrunner right of passage? Because i can live without that one!).”

She went on to praise the entire team behind the show, and allowed people to feel whatever way they’re going to feel, adding that they’re “really excited to continue telling the story of these f—ed up women,” and the guys in their circle.

She added, “as soon as we can,” with a nod to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who are currently dealing with a work stoppage from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) over a litany of issues, though largely based on compensation in relation to the ever-evolving television landscape. The current strike began May 2 and has already impacted several productions, including work on Season 3 of “Yellowjackets.”

“Are we gonna get weirder?” Lyle asked in her continuing thread. “Probably! Will the fallout of *redacted*’s death affect our (anti)heroes in massive ways? Will our girls’ struggle to survive against the elements (and themselves) get even down and dirtier? Do we still have to tell the story of Pit Girl? You betcha!”

Here, Lyle was teasing events not yet seen in full, but teased, and the harrowing events of the Season 2 finale which rocked the worlds of both the teenage Yellowjackets stuck in the woods and the adults, who’d come back together at Lottie’s wellness retreat.

(FINAL WARNING: This is your last chance to run screaming for the woods (maybe not those woods) before we SPOIL the events of the Season 2 finale.)

Finally, after two whole seasons of speculation and build-up, the teens in the forest officially crowned their Antler Queen, and it was absolutely not who anyone was expecting. The moment was also punctuated by absolute devastation.

In a stunning twist, Lottie (Courtney Eaton) handed over leadership of the survivors to Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). Alas, her moment was quickly overshadowed by horror as the group had to watch their home burn to the ground.

This came after they had dined on the wilderness’ chosen sacrifice from the prior episode, Javi (Luciano Leroux). Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) returned to yet another horrific scene of ritual cannibalism and it was quickly made clear that he could not continue to live with his students.

Stealing matches and a rope, with a decision to try and live in the cave where Javi survived all those months he was lost, he even tries to have Natalie come with him, before she tells him she let Javi die in her place.

Shauna (Sophie Nélisse) was the only one awake with this happened, and it was due to this she was able to save the rest of the survivors. It’s not made entirely clear that Ben had anything to do with the fire, or the door being temporary jammed, but we were pretty blatantly showing him stealing those matches. Yes, he needed them to start a fire in the cave, but did he also try and take care of this growing problem in the cabin?

In the present, things weren’t going much better. Echoing the events of last week’s penultimate episode in the 1996 timeline, the surviving women of the present day again drew cards to give the wilderness the sacrifice they were certain it wanted.

Everything went horribly wrong, though, after Lisa (Nicole Maines) disobeyed Natalie’s (Juliette Lewis) decree that all non-Yellowjackets leave Lottie’s compound so they can devolve into animalistic and horrific behaviors (she didn’t frame it quite like that, though).

Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) drew the short straw (or the Queen, in this case) and became the hunted. Her daughter Callie (Sarah Desjardins), however, showed up just in the nick of time to save her mom, but this didn’t stop the wilderness from getting what it wanted, depending on how you interpret such things.

Lottie was sure it wasn’t satisfied with an aborted hunt, leading Natalie to pull out a knife just as Lisa showed back up. Lisa, for her part, had read the danger in the group and was holding a gun on Natalie. Unfortunately, when Misty (Christina Ricci) charged Lisa to inject her with a fatal poison, Natalie jumped in the way … and died.

Crowned Antler Queen in the past at the same moment (jumping back and forth) as she died in the present, Natalie’s story came to an unexpected close, just as it was opening up in 1996.

Thatcher, who portrays the younger version of Natalie, told Variety that the loss of Lewis for the show was “heartbreaking,” but it “also creates more levels for younger Natalie, because the viewers will have that in mind.”

“There’s another layer to watching younger Natalie I think now and going forward. But Juliette was my mentor, and she is so incredible,” Thatcher continued. “To lose her on the show felt really like losing a part of yourself. It was sad, but I think it’ll be interesting to see how it plays from here on out.”